Let Me Save You
by Gwydion
Summary: The four turtles made their way as quickly as possible through the alien corridor, ignoring the red emergency lights flashing around them. This was it. They were taking down the Technodrome once and for all.


Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

**Let Me Save You**

"Now, Mikey, are you _sure _you did _exactly _as -"

"Stop worrying, dude! You're talking to the resident Kraang tech genius, remember?"

"Just keep moving, you two. This thing could take off at any second."

"Actually, according to my calculations, we should still have approximately thirteen minutes and -"

"Oh, for the love of - _will you guys just shut up and run!?_"

The four turtles made their way as quickly as possible through the alien corridor, ignoring the red emergency lights flashing around them. Mikey lead the way as Donnie helped Leo along, the leader's arm draped around his shoulders, with Raph bringing up the rear. Adrenaline pumped through their bodies, their eyes darting around, watching for Kraang droids, but the way had been thankfully, if not surprisingly, vacant.

This was it. They were taking down the Technodrome once and for all.

"Oh, hey, we made it!"

They all looked on in relief at the escape pods as they approached them. Mikey quickly threw open the closest one and turned to help Leo climb inside, being careful not to injure his sprained ankle further. Donnie climbed in next and turned back to lend Raph a hand.

"C'mon, Mikey," he said as his pulled his older brother into the pod, "what are you waiting for?"

They all looked at him expectantly, and no one liked the sheepish look the youngest gave them in return.

"I, uh, I probably should have mentioned that there's one more thing I have to do..."

The response was so loud and instantaneous he couldn't hold back a wince.

"What!?"

"Seriously!?"

"_Mikey!_"

"Calm down, dudes!" The little turtle was frowning up at them, hands on his hips. "I knew you guys wouldn't leave unless you thought we were all going, but Leo needs help, and all I gotta do is head to this one room, push a few buttons, and - boom! - this tin can is set to explode! There's even a private escape pod in the room itself! Now are we gonna keep wasting time, or can I go?"

Mikey was right, of course. Had they all known his plan ahead of time, they would have insisted on accompanying him, despite the fact that Leo would only slow him down and Donnie would likely fuss over his shoulder, constantly asking if he knew what he was doing. But somehow, beyond all odds, their baby brother just intuitively _did _know what he was doing when it came to Kraang computers, and he was the fastest of all of them, even when their leader was at full strength. All the same, their protective older brother instincts made it hard to agree to leave the youngest behind.

Not even waiting for the order, Raph jumped back out. "I'll come too." Seeing his little brother opening his mouth to protest, he added, "You could use someone to watch your back while you're working, and you know it. Now, you can fight me on this if you want, but you're not gonna win anyway, so we might as well just go."

With a face that said he clearly did not want a babysitter, Mikey sighed loudly. "Fine, but you better keep up!" Without further warning, the young turtle took off, continuing to head down the corridor they'd just come from.

"Raph."

Before he could follow, the older turtle paused and turned back, locking eyes with Leo. Their leader appeared calm on the surface, but his blue eyes betrayed his inner turmoil, regretting being unable to stay behind himself.

"Keep him safe."

It wasn't an order from someone of higher rank. It was the heartfelt request of a brother.

Determination in his eyes, Raph gave a curt nod before swiftly taking off after Mikey, feeling a sort of relief as he heard the pod close behind him and shoot out into the ocean beyond the Technodrome's walls, taking Leo and Donnie to safety.

Thinking about this new wrinkle in the plan, however, forced a low growl from his mouth. When they had discovered that the large spaceship was fully repaired and going to blast into orbit, raining down terror and destruction from above, Donnie had immediately set to work on a plan to destroy it. He didn't understand the science of it all, but his brother had assured them that it would work. Everyone thought it would be an in and out job - sneak in, have Mikey mess around on the computers until the thing was set to blow once in orbit, then fight their way back out. The fighting had come earlier than expected, but even with Leo suffering a freak injury, the plan was still in tact. The fact that his little brother had gone and changed it on them without telling them, on top of the fact that the halls were eerily silent save for the alarms, however, was putting him on edge.

Watching as Mikey entered a room, Raph quickly followed behind, eyes darting around as he ducked inside. It was a pretty well furnished room by Kraang standards, with some of those odd, crystal trees lining the circular wall. Several doors were interspersed between them, and Mikey was standing against the wall pointing to one to his immediate left.

"In here," he whispered.

Drawing his sai, Raph's green eyes narrowed, and as soon as Mikey pushed the button to open the door, he bolted inside with a war cry, ready to take out anyone that might be using the computer his brother needed. He stopped suddenly, however, with a confused blink. The room was tiny, but beyond that, it was practically empty with only a small keypad and viewscreen on the wall. He was shaken out of his momentary confusion by the swish of the door closing behind him.

"Hey!" He whirled around and began pounding on the door, shooting glares out the circular window while looking for some way to open it from the inside. "What's the big idea? Let me out of here right now, or so help me -"

But his little brother wasn't listening. He was instead hurriedly putting in some commands on a wall panel that somehow caused a column to raise up from the middle of the floor. As it reached the ceiling, it opened with a hiss, revealing one of those touch control panels with the unreadable, blue squares drifting along the surface.

"I told you, I got this," he said abruptly as he ran to the control panel and quickly gained access to it, not even bothering to turn around. "You should have just gone with Leo and Donnie. The Kraang aren't gonna show up. I erased all the video of us breaking in and then sent out a message saying we were heading to the top of this giant golf ball. They'll be searching for us for hours."

Raph stopped shouting and gaped. "Wait... you did what?"

Mikey at last glanced back at him with a wink and a smile. "Told you, dude - Kraang tech genius."

Mentally shoving his shock aside, Raph again banged on the door. "Doesn't mean you have to lock me in here, now let me out!"

The silence he received in response was disconcerting to say the least, and he felt a ball of dread settle in the pit of his stomach. He had no idea what his brother was up to, but he felt completely helpless trapped in the small room, and the seconds seemed to drag by as he waited anxiously for an explanation.

"Donnie's plan won't work."

Raph suddenly felt like all of the air had been sucked from the room.

"How do you know?"

Still refusing to turn around as he continued to work at the control panel, Mikey calmly explained. "There's a fail safe thingy in place. When I tried to get it to do what Donnie said, it would always go back and fix itself, like magic. I couldn't figure out how to shut it off, and we were running out of time."

Raph's mouth went dry. A part of him didn't want to ask, but he had to know. "So... what are you doing?"

After a few more taps on the control panel, the young turtle straightened back up with a satisfied nod. "Well, that idea may not work, but the self destruct button from Kraang Prime's office sure will." He turned back to Raph with a smile. "Not sure why they even have one of those. They must watch too many science fiction movies."

"There's a self destruct button?" The knot in his stomach loosened slightly at the good news. "Well, hurry up and press it so we can get out of here. Our thirteen minutes have gotta be almost up by now."

As if on cue, a rumble reverberated throughout the spaceship and the floor began to tremble.

"Sorry, bro. You're gonna have to go without me."

"Forget it!" Raph's response was immediate. Balling up his fist, he pounded on the door again, even though he knew it was useless. "Quit messing around, Mikey, and open this door! Now!"

But as the older turtle stared through the glass, eyes wide and frantic, he knew his commands were falling on deaf ears. While Mikey's smile was strained, there was a determination in his gaze. He had a plan, and Raph wasn't going to like it.

"It's a self destruct button, dude. You press it and the whole place blows. We can't do that here - remember what Donnie said about gigantic, killer waves?" He flung his arms out above his head dramatically. "I've gotta hit it once we're already in space. Don't worry, though, I snagged this portal while you guys were fighting off the Kraang." Pulling the device from his belt, he looked at it curiously. "Not sure where it leads, but it's gotta be better than an exploding spaceship, right?"

Raph couldn't believe what he was hearing. Mikey, his baby brother, was planning on riding into space on an enemy death machine and then setting it to self destruct while he escaped through a portal to who knows where. The plan was dangerous enough, but finding his way back to earth?

"No way," he said stubbornly, "We'll use the escape pod to get away. I'm not gonna let you get lost in some random dimension!"

The young turtle had walked over to the door and begun messing with the keypad outside. "Won't work, bro. It's made so the one blowing up the ship has to go down with it. Guess they don't want Kraang Prime just blowing everyone up for fun."

"I'm coming with you."

Raph saw his little brother stiffen, hand pausing for a split second before getting back to what he was working on and shaking his head.

"Leo and Donnie are gonna need you while Leo's ankle heals up. I'll be fine, I -"

"Cut the lone hero crap, Mikey!" He could hear his voice starting to crack, but he ignored it and continued to scream and shout through the door. "You don't have to do this alone! I won't let you! I told Leo I'd keep you safe, and you better believe that's what I'm gonna do!"

The little turtle's head shot up so fast that Raph flinched. His blue eyes were filled with anger. "And who's gonna keep you safe?" he cried. "Face it, Raph, if you were over here instead of me, you'd send me away before I even had a chance to say goodbye! This whole plan could go all kinds of wrong, and there's no reason to put two of us in that kind of danger! Just... just let me protect you for once, the way you guys are always protecting me."

A sad, pleading look replaced the unnatural fury as Mikey stared at his older brother, waiting for his reaction, and for once, Raph had no idea what to say. His gut reaction was to refuse outright. It was his duty as an older sibling to look out for the younger, after all; he was allowed to be selfish like that.

"Mikey..."

"It's ok, Raph. I can do this."

As they both felt the rumble in the floor growing more violent, they knew that time had run out. The Technodrome would take off soon. The time for arguing was over.

Seeing the determination etched in his baby brother's face, Raph swallowed the lump in his throat. He already knew that Mikey had tricked him into entering the only escape pod and that with a flick of his wrist, he'd be sending him out into the ocean, alone. No matter how much he wanted to fight it, how much he wanted to try and convince the young turtle to reconsider, there simply was no time. There was only one thing he could do.

"I know." Blue eyes brightened at the words, and Raph could see the moisture building in them as he forced himself to continue, willing his voice to remain as steady and encouraging as possible. "I know you can do this. And I don't care how long it takes, you'd better come home in one piece, you understand?"

With a smile, Mikey nodded. "I will, bro," he said quietly before sniffing loudly and clearing his throat. "Keep a pizza warm for me, ok? Triple cheese, jelly bean, and jalepeño!"

Doing his best to return the smile, Raph willed himself to speak. "Yeah, I promise."

As the craft began to lurch upwards, a flash of panic covered the freckled turtle's face before he shook his head and pushed it aside. Standing tall and confident, he glanced down at the keypad before locking eyes with his older brother for what he knew would be the last time for longer than either of them wanted to think about.

"Bye, Raph."

Before he could even consider responding, the escape pod shot out, swiftly carrying him away from his little brother. Bracing himself against the side and clutching the lone handrail, he clenched his teeth and waited for the impact with the water. With a jolt, he felt the pod enter the ocean, and he could feel the small craft rising to the surface, being pushed further from the giant spaceship as the Technodrome quickly propelled itself out of the water.

As soon as he felt the pod bobbing on the surface, he scrambled over to the keypad, trying to figure out how to unlock the door. After a few frustrating minutes, he finally heard the latch let go with a hiss, and he shoved the door open, peering out into the open sky. The Technodrome already appeared as a tiny speck, and he found himself holding his breath as he watched it disappear from view. It was only a few, short minutes later that he swore he heard a distant rumble despite the cloudless view. Raph took a deep, calming breath.

"Nice work, little brother. Come home soon."

* * *

A/N: Another drabble that got away from me. I'm just too wordy, I guess. Only one request left, and that one probably won't be done so quickly, but it'll be something quite different from my norm, that I can promise.

As always, critics and grammar police appreciated!

EDIT: And since everyone asked for it, there's an epilogue to this story posted over in my Drabbles - it just didn't seem to fit here, and admittedly I liked this as a one shot.


End file.
